Fetching the Dursleys
by Beau2809
Summary: Fem!Harry Lyra and Charlie Weasley are going to rescue Dedalus and Hestia from the Dursleys a week after the Battle of Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling

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Lyra had been home for a week before she remembered the Dursleys. They had been away from Privet Drive for almost a year, and although both Hestia and Dedalus were guarding them, Lyra knew that they wouldn't be allowed home until their safety was guaranteed.

Although the job could fall to any of the Order, it was in an effort to deter Sirius and Remus from confronting her relatives that caused Lyra to stand up and offer herself. Not only did she not want Sirius and Remus to have the opportunity to be in contact with her relatives, she also didn't want to inflict the family on any other person who had dedicated the last few years to protecting her.

And so, in gratitude to their efforts, she shouldered the job herself.

It wasn't until the day before she was due to fetch them that Charlie offered to join her. It was the evening meal, Remus and Tonks were eating at their own home and so Charlie had joined Sirius and Lyra at Grimmauld Place when Charlie paused his eating.

"Do you.. Want company tomorrow Ly?" He asked cautiously. Sirius sent him a grateful glance as he spooned spaghetti in to his mouth, while Lyra looked up at him in shock.

"I didn't think you'd want to.. That's why I'm doing it, so nobody else has to. I've dealt with them for years, I didn't want anyone else to suffer. But if you want to.."

Here, she blushed, but continued,

"I'd be happy for you to come with me." Sirius and Charlie both smiled, as Sirius didn't want Lyra to confront her childhood bullies alone, while Charlie was grateful for the chance to spend some more time with his girlfriend as well as defending her against her uncle and cousin.

The next morning, when Charlie arrived, Sirius thanked him gratefully before Lyra joined the two men downstairs. He watched the pair as they left the house, before he went to join the Order in aiding McGonagall to rebuild Hogwarts.

Once Charlie apparated with Lyra beside him, they emerged in a small village in Ireland, with green rolling hills surrounding the few cottages they were near. As the couple walked down the lane, they sensed rather than saw the magic wards that layered the cottage. They had both learnt a lot since they had been separated at Bill and Fleur's wedding and while Charlie checked on both the presence of Dark Magic and the number of people within, Lyra sent a Patronus inside to whoever was present.

"There are five people within, and there's no trace of curses so it should be safe, Ly" Charlie stated, and as the cottage door was thrown open Lyra took a deep breath to prepare herself for confronting her uncle.


	2. Chapter 2

"Lyra!" A squeaky voice cried out as Lyra and Charlie stood at the gate. The jubilation on Dedalus' face died a second later as he whipped his wand out and pointed it at the two of them. In return, Lyra and Charlie both held their wands out steadily, pointing them at Dedalus Diggle, and at Hestia who stood behind him.

"What did I do when I saw you in a shop when you were little? The first time you saw me, Lyra" Dedalus squeaked.

Lyra paused.

"Didn't you bow to me?" A grin spread across Dedalus' face, but he did not move his wand.

"And Charlie? What did I say to you the day you joined the Order?" Charlie looked at him before smiling.

"You didn't say anything, you weren't there that day." As he spoke he wrapped his arm around Lyra's waist which Dedalus noticed and smiled appreciatively at.

"Dedalus?" Lyra asked, "on the day you took my family out of Privet Drive last July, what was it that reminded you that you needed to get going?"

"It was my pocket watch Lyra, and it shouted 'hurry up!'" Lyra's emerald eyes sparkled at him before they locked with the chestnut eyes of Hestia who was still guarding the doorway.

"Hello Hestia. We've proven who we are, it's your turn. The day you, Uncle Remus, Tonks, and the rest of the Advance Guard came to pick me up after the dementor attack, you were standing in the kitchen laughing. What were you laughing at?"

Hestia laughed at the memory.

"I asked afterwards what it was, you told me it was a potato peeler." Lyra grinned.

"Hello!" Dropping Charlie's hand she darted forward and hugged both of them. Dedalus squeaked his congratulations and Hestia joined in, both ecstatically shaking her hand and Charlie's hand and speaking all at once apologising for not joining the battle and how in the last year they had not lost faith and-

"Enough! I don't blame either of you for not joining the battle!" Lyra exclaimed, before her thoughts turned to the reason why they had not and she nervously lowered her voice.

"And the Dursleys? Have they been ok? Not too awful?" She and Charlie watched nervously as Hestia and Dedalus exchanged slightly dark looks.

"I wouldn't say awful, exactly.." Hestia said, "more... Exhausting." Dedalus nodded, but added;

"Well we came to an agreement, so we're not the best of friends, but from the day we left last year they've definitely improved. Your cousin, Lyra, has been the most worried about you - you should take time to talk to him before you return home later." Lyra's head snapped round to look at Dedalus. "Dudley? Worried?!"

"Indeed Lyra, but come inside!" Invited Hestia. Lyra and Charlie followed the pair into the cottage, where they were met by a crackling fire, some warm scones, and the three faces of Lyra's only surviving relatives.

"Hello" Lyra said quietly to them, "I've come to pick you up - it's safe for you to return." Vernon straightened up, his face turning purple.

"Now listen here, you can't just uproot us miles with barely any warning, leave us without contact for a year and then come back and expect us to uproot ourselves again with no warning at the drop of a hat!" He snarled, expecting subservience and obsequious apologies.

But that Lyra was gone. The Lyra that stood in the cottage now was one who had avenged her parents deaths, had travelled for a year with no contact with the people who loved her, had fought and won and had a boyfriend who loved her. She was brave, and courageous, and not the weak child that she pretended to be back in the days of Privet Drive.

As Charlie placed his arm around her waist in a gesture of mutual support, Lyra snapped.

"I sent you away for your own safety Vernon Dursley! I travelled with my two friends for a year with no contact with the outside world at all! I camped for a year, I didn't know if my godfather was alive or dead, I didn't know if Charlie was alive, but I fought Voldemort last week, he's dead, and it's safe, it's safe for you to return home! You don't have to go home but this isn't your house and I'm not demanding you go home now but if I didn't come and get you now then I probably never would and you'd either be left here not knowing a thing about the end of the war apart from poor Dedalus and Hestia, or my godfather and uncle would have come to get you and they're not pleased with you! I sent you away for you and Aunt Petunia and Dudley to be safe, and alive, and protected. I didn't do it for my own convenience!" She spat, finishing her rant with deep breaths as she tried to calm herself.


	3. Chapter 3

As Charlie stood behind her, he noticed the anxious looking faces of Petunia and Dudley standing in the corner of the room, as well as those of Dedalus and Hestia who were bringing in cups of tea through from the kitchen.

When Lyra had finally calmed down, Dudley approached. Slightly bashful, he spoke quietly.

"You're back? You've won?"

Lyra looked at him in shock, before remembering the boy who had thanked her for saving his life almost a year before. She smiled gently.

"Yes, Big D" her eyes sparkled with amusement as he glared at her, "we won."

"And he's dead? The man who killed your parents?"

Lyra's voice trembled slightly as she replied,

"Yes, he's dead"

Dudley grinned at her, and opened his mouth to congratulate her before he was suddenly interrupted by his mother.

"And we can go back to our lives now? Without you?"

Her voice was hard and Lyra's eyes flashed with anger. But it was Charlie who replied.

"Yes you can go back to your lives now!"

He snapped,

"your lovely, normal lives, without your lovely niece. The niece who you've always called a burden even though you never spent any money on her, the niece who you forced into a cupboard and lied about her parents, who you made in to a house elf! The niece who sent you away for your OWN SAFETY when she DIDNT HAVE TO, will not be returning to live with you once we've seen you safely home."

Charlie's blue eyes flashed dangerously, and his voice became calm, quiet and calculating.

"The niece who you've belittled since she was left with you, her own family, the saviour of our world and of yours, now one of the wealthiest witches in our world, will not be returning to live with you once we've seen you safely home."

He squeezed Lyra's hand as the angry redhead stared her family down. Vernon's face was turning purple as he glared at the pair, but didn't speak. Perhaps the revelation of Lyra's wealth was enough to silence him.

The rest of the preparations happened quietly. The house was packed up with the accompanying sounds of Dedalus, Hestia, Dudley, Lyra and Charlie quietly conversing between themselves.

The two older Dursleys meanwhile were silent, Vernon furiously working and Petunia nervously so, throwing anxious glances over to her son, her niece, and the two people who had given up their year to protect her family.

The packing was finished by the evening, and so they resolved themselves to setting off the following morning. The Dursleys, Hestia and Dedalus retired to their rooms, and Lyra and Charlie curled up on the sofa. They had but a few hours sleep before they needed to be up for the long day ahead of them.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N I am so sorry for not doing this sooner! I've been really really busy this week - I've had to go out every day and I'm exhausted at night and haven't had the energy to write..

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As the sun rose over Ireland, the cottage was teeming with life. Five humans were bustling back and forth, packing up the last remnants of the Dursleys existence there. While they were finishing the last of it, Dudley finally got a minute alone with Lyra, who sent Charlie away with just a glance.

"Dudley?" She murmured as her cousin stood before her. She looked him up and down as he shifted anxiously, and sent him a reassuring smile. Lyra had noticed the morning before how Dudley's clothes hang looser on his body. He wasn't thin yet, not even near, but clearly a year away from Privet Drive had done him some good.

"Hello.." He hesitated before saying her name "-Lyra." She smiled at him again, and waited patiently for him to speak.

"He's gone, isn't he? You properly killed him?" Lyra sighed, but nodded.

"Yes, he's gone. Technically he killed himself though, I spent the year travelling to find a way to do that. It was very complex magic and very Dark. But that's not why you're talking to me - is it?"

"Dedalus and Hestia told me what you are.. The 'Girl Who Lived'? That's been your entire life? And now he's dead.. You're free?" He looked at her then, the light from the window making her kind emerald eyes stand out in the cottage, and with new resolve he continued "I'm.. Err.. I'm sorry I was.. such a bully to you."

He stuttered over the last few words, but was pleased when his cousin just smiled at him, accepted his apology, and as they parted he felt grateful that she hadn't made a big thing of his change of heart.

Dudley watched as Lyra returned to Charlie's side, laughing with him as they packed up the last few items from the kitchen. Lyra pulled out the last of the kitchen tools and passed it to Hestia, laughing as Hestia turned to look at her and burst out laughing as well, before she popped the potato peeler in to the last box and sealed it.

Once they were joined by the two Dursley parents, they loaded the car with all the luggage and it wasn't until then that Dudley realised a problem.

"Lyra? The car only fits five..and there are seven of us."

Dedalus winked at Dudley before saying,

"Well we could expand the car.."

At which point Vernon predictably flushed purple in his anger, but before he got a chance to vent his fury Lyra intervened, and laughing, she said,

"Charlie and I are going to disillusion ourselves and fly above the car"

Dudley looked at her in confusion, he didn't really understand at all, but as Lyra turned to Charlie, the redhead pulled out two tiny twigs, touched them with his wand and they swelled to large broomsticks. Lyra winked at her boyfriend and grabbed the shinier one, which Dudley noticed had the word '_Firebolt_' written in gold calligraphy along the handle.

He couldn't look at the brooms any more, though, as Hestia hustled them in to the car and they sat as they had on the way out, almost a year before. When he glanced at the pair standing outside of the car again, he was just in time. As the car started pulling out of the drive, Lyra and Charlie simultaneously touched their wands to their heads and disappeared, a slight shuffle of the grass where they were standing the only indication that they had left the ground.

The journey was underway.


	5. Chapter 5

It was so, so hard for Lyra to fly disillusioned. The freedom of flying, especially now the war was over and _she was fre_e, was making her want to fly and swoop and dive and soar above the clouds with Charlie.. And it was taking all her power to restrain herself from doing it. She had a mission to do, one last task before she could relax and fly as she used to. She had to keep the Dursleys safe from harm on their journey back to Privet Drive.

Lyra kept that thought in her head, constantly at the forefront of her mind. She knew in herself that if she even dropped her focus on her task for a second, that would be it and she would fly away from the car to just play among the clouds. Instead, she had to follow the car as it wended it's way along the country lanes. She could feel Charlie close by, their broomsticks were next to each other and if she flew any further to the left Lyra could feel his body, invisible though it was. The pair were flying, in silence, above and behind the car so it was always just in front of them when Lyra made the mistake of looking up.

There was a bird above them, a buzzard, hovering high above them before it suddenly dove down to the ground. Lyra let out an involuntary sigh as she watched the bird disappear, which Charlie couldn't help but overhear.

"Ly? You alright?" He murmured, his eyes briefly wandering to the invisible space beside him.

"Oh Charlie, I'm fed up of this! I just want to fly! Like that buzzard.." She heard a chuckle from beside her as he too looked to the sky, to the soft clouds, to the expanse of blue sky...

"Ly! Now you've made me want to fly as well!" As he jokingly admonished her for distracting him, and she quietly grumbled to herself, they flew as they had, following the blue car along the roads, until they passed a river, which eventually led them to the sea.

"Charlie..." Lyra whined, "I just want to fly..."

"You're not the only one!" He grumbled, as he kept his eyes fixed to the car containing her relatives. Then an idea came to him, and voiced it without a seconds thought.

"Maybe when they're safely on the ferry we could fly properly across the sea?" As the neared the port itself, they exchanged ideas of how to amuse themselves, and by the time the Dursleys pulled in to a parking spot their two invisible followers were laughing merrily over the results of imaginary races they had narrated to entertain themselves.


	6. Chapter 6

If Lyra really strained, she could remember the long, boring, dull, repetitive, silent hours of following that car along the streets and lanes of Ireland. Along the tracks of Wales and finally the motorways that meant speed, a return to civilisation and the approaching return to Grimmauld Place and Sirius Black.

But if anyone were to ask her of it, those would be the parts of the journey she would skim over. The memories that bled in to one another and jumbled themselves in knots across her mind. Instead, the flight that she and Charlie shared across the Irish Sea was the one part of their journey that she remembered properly.

They had separated from the ferry, knowing that as the car was stowed beneath decks and Dedalus and Hestia were fully equipped and able to defend themselves as they hadn't in the car, it was safe for them to do so and had placed notice-me-not charms on the two of them so they could fly unnoticed and yet still enjoy being together - which until then, as disillusioned flyers, they hadn't been able to.

So they had spent a few, glorious hours, dipping and racing and swooping and floating, skimming the water with their toes, leaning down to brush the surface with the tips of their fingers. They had hurtled beside the ferry, keeping abreast of the large boat as dolphins would do, their joy leaking out into the surrounding air and in to the water as magic.

They had flown above the ferry for a short while, but not on top of it as they had with the car, they were far above it, diving to be twenty feet above it and rising to be hovering in the clouds high above. They had chased the waves, and fled from the ferry, laughing and splashing water at each other.

They had gone ahead to Anglesey, beating the boat by forty minutes, seeing the seals basking on the rocky shores and the birds resting on the rocks that stood within the beating waves. They had returned to the ferry, and joined it as it pulled in to the port. As they had to wait on shore for her relatives to rejoin them, Charlie had to shrink their broomsticks again and they stood, together, looking out at the sea which just fifteen minutes before had been their playground.

As the sun was starting to set, the light that shone down upon the waves made them twinkle to the watching onlookers, and both Charlie and Lyra couldn't tear their eyes from the beautiful sight. But they had to. When the others joined them, they decided to go to a café and then to a bed and breakfast to spend the night. It was too dark, now, to drive across Wales, it was too cold, now, for Charlie and Lyra to fly and enjoy themselves. They settled in to a bed and breakfast that looked out upon the harbour and as the long day came to a close they slept.


	7. Chapter 7

It wasn't until the convoy reached Privet Drive that Lyra realised what was different. The house had been cared for by Mrs Figg while the Dursleys were 'working abroad', so that wasn't it. The house hadn't been destroyed, so again, that wasn't it. That Charlie was with her as they approached the prison of her childhood? That was new, but it didn't quite fit the niggling feeling in her chest that was telling her something had changed.

And then she realised.

When the Dursleys approached their corner of Little Whinging, and the houses became ever more identical with their matching interiors and immaculate front gardens, Lyra and Charlie rose up, sweeped across the immediate vicinity of the Dursleys house, and then after Lyra called to her partner, and he touched her shoulder, they dove, gracefully, to land in the back garden of Mrs Figg's semi detached little house.

Lyra's old childminder met them with hugs and kisses on the cheek, beckoning them through her small house and apologising for the mess, inviting them back some point soon, maybe that afternoon, for 'a proper catch up'. Lyra and Charlie, now both visible again, and dressed in their most suitable mugglewear, gratefully left Mrs Figg and strolled, hand in hand, to Privet Drive. Wands close to hand, they appeared relaxed but the slightest noise, if an onlooker looked closely enough, made them both flinch and look around carefully.

They met the Dursleys at number 4, Privet Drive, and together, the seven people unloaded the car and moved the boxes in to the house. It was safe, they had checked, and as the sun shone high above their heads, the Dursleys returned home. Though they moved the luggage in to the house manually to protect from prying eyes, once inside they dispatched each case magically. Dudley watched in awe as the boxes containing all his belongings whipped up the stairs and piled themselves neatly by the door.

When they turned to leave, Dedalus and Hestia disapparated first. They had been away from their friends, their families, their entire world for almost a year while taking care of Lyra's family. Lyra and Charlie were going to fly back - to fly properly back, flying high above the towns and villages so that none below could see them - so they could fly as they hadn't been able to for the last few days when following the car.

But as they walked down the garden path, they were stopped short by Dudley's call. He came rushing out, or as much as one can rush out when they have spent the last two days sitting in a car, and stopped them as they neared the end of the driveway.

"Lyra!" He called, and they turned and waited for him to join them. Lyra's only cousin stood before her, his hands in his pockets as he stared at the ground.

"I just wanted to say sorry again.. For everything." He said quietly, before looking up at his cousin. To his shock she was smiling at him, her long black hair in plaits framing her face. Dudley had never noticed how kind she looked, had never looked beyond _'Freak_' and '_Dangerous_' and '_Weird_'. How he had grown up believing the girl in front of him was to be detested, he did not know. How she had grown up being detested and still ending up as the kind faced girl in front of him, he had no idea.

"Thank you" Lyra said softly. As Charlie took her hand to lead her back to Mrs Figg's house from where they would depart, Dudley couldn't stop himself.

"You'll keep in touch?" He asked, desperately. Lyra looked at him incredulously.

"You want to?" She asked, turning back to him. He nodded, before realising he didn't know how to get hold of her. Upon voicing this thought, Lyra's face creased slightly as she pondered.

"Tell you what" she said finally, "I know where you live, so I'll set up a PO Box that you can send post to.. I doubt you'd want an owl, or that you'd want to rely on me sending Hedwig for you to write me a letter... So I'll set up a PO Box and post you the details? Then we can go from there?"

Dudley grinned and nodded, before bidding them farewell.

It wasn't the look of the house that was different, and it wasn't that it had been destroyed, as neither had changed. The house was still part of its street, with gossiping women on all sides, so that hadn't changed either. It was, as Lyra said to Charlie, that she had arrived in an entirely magical way, and been _accepted_, and _welcomed_, and _respected_, by Dudley at 4, Privet Drive.

An experience she had never had before.

Now they were leaving, flying out on broomsticks without escaping for their lives from Voldemort or his Death Eaters. This was different. This was new, and it felt good. As the duo soared above the hills of Surrey, Lyra felt completely, entirely happy. Completely, entirely free.

No longer held back by the restrictions her relatives had placed on her, or those Dumbledore had, no longer held back by the weight of the Wizarding World upon her shoulders. Lyra could finally do what she wanted - which at that moment in time meant racing Charlie at full pelt across the English countryside.

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A/N it's complete! This chapter took a while to write as I couldn't decide whether their return to Little Whinging would be peaceful - or whether a random rogue Death Eater would appear and the Dursleys would have the opportunity to see Lyra's skill and power and real personality. Eventually I chose the peaceful way.


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